Seasonal Shelf

So, I got this cute new shelf for my birthday. Only it's not the shelf you see in my picture. I found that one at a garage sale today for just $20. I thought it was a great deal considering how much I paid for the other one. You might be wondering why I have this one up instead of my birthday shelf? Well, it happens to be smaller and it was easier to find a spot for it. I am still contemplating where to put my birthday shelf. While in Nebraska, my sister and I went shopping at this totally adorable store and we found the cute accessories that are on the bottom shelf. They were a gift from my awesome sister. Thanks!!

We also made a fun project with our sis-in-law Traci. Kristi saw this cute FALL saying on one of my favorite Decorating blogs called Cherry's Jubilee. I bet Kristi was wishing she had a little one to chase so she wouldn't have had to do so much of the work. I am grateful she did so much or it would have landed in my unfinished project pile. Ethan like to rearrange them so they don't spell anything. Since he started pre-school he is really into letters and numbers.

Go Big RED!

We made a quick trip to Nebraska this past weekend. Mark has been wanting to take the kids to a Husker football game for awhile now. We weren't able to go to any last season as I was still pregnant and then we had a new baby. We were able to spend the day with my family and had a fabulous time! We all went to Valentino's for lunch.
Valentino's is a really yummy pizza buffet. I don't usually really like buffets but I love this one. They have way more than just pizza too. There was a lady there who was painting faces and making balloon animals, swords, flowers etc.. Most of the kids had "N" painted on their faces and hands to show their love for Nebraska football. Ethan and Xander decided to get Spiderman faces painted on. They were both so afraid to eat anything for fear that they would mess up their faces. I guess we should've had them get painted after we ate.
Mark took Hannah, Zach and Connor to the game. It was Hannah and Zach's first time going to a game. This pictures shows the stadium of RED. Those crazy Nebraskan's, they love their football team. My brother Dan, and nieces Kelsey and Emma were at the game as well. My BIL Troy and my nephew Jameson were there ushering for Boy Scouts. It was fun for my kids to get to go with their cousins.
I guess there is a tradition that when Nebraska gets their first touchdown, everyone let's go of a red balloon. I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but it is of all the red balloons. Hannah lost hers before the first touchdown, so her and Zach shared a balloon.
We had such a great weekend and hated to see it end so soon. I am going to show some of my birthday purchases in another post. My sister, SIL and I also made a fun project that I will share too.

9 months (for 5 more days)

One of these days, I am going to be on the ball, and then I will not have to apologize for always getting things up late (just to myself as I am the only one who reads this blog). This is my cute girl on the day she turned 9 months old. She such a little sweetheart and a joy to our whole family. We are all smitten with her.

9 month facts*

*20lbs 12 oz

*28 inches long

*still wearing 6-12 month clothing. I have started buying bigger clothes but they are still too big for her. She is funny, she has short little legs but long arms.

*crawling everywhere FAST! She also is cruising the furniture FAST!! She is practically running around the couch. She has also taken a step when trying to get from one side of the couch to the other. I still want her to slow down and she wants to start walking.

*loves Cheerios and Gerber puffs. She has tried most baby foods except for meat. I guess I did give her chicken noodle dinner today. We gave her avocado yesterday and she liked it. I have been giving her a little bit more food off of our plates. She loves it.

*has a cute little temper when things don't go her way or you take something away from her.

*likes to eat books...and then crawl away so I can't get it out of her mouth. I also found a gum wrapper in her mouth at church a few weeks ago (ewwwww).

*not the best sleeper., sleeps in my bed all night and no naps in her bed, only in my lap.

*likes this little stuffed Pablo that Ethan has...today she recognized that Pablo was on the TV and she squealed with delight. It was so so cute!!

*can say BALL and likes to play with them

*loves it when we sing Twinkle, twinkle little star to her. It will calm her down if she is upset.

*loves the remote, telephone, computer, cell phone etc...(better than her toys of course)

*can climb up the stairs, on the ottoman (but not sure how to get down), and on the fireplace.

*loves to be outside

*she likes to look out the window by the couch, she always climbs up and moves the curtain out of her way.

*finally grew out of her infant seat and into a bigger carseat.

*doesn't like having her diaper changed or getting her clothes put on her.

*has stranger anxiety...or whatever that's called.

*lays her head down when she is a little shy...she will either lay it on the floor or me when someone is talking to her. She loves the attention though.

*likes to throw her toys down and then see if you will pick it up game.

*is wiggly...sometimes pratically leaping out of my arms

*starting to take her headbands off of her head (wahhhh).

*makes me smile over and over all day long.

I know there are a few more things I want to add. I will when I remember them.

Old Settler's Day Parade

Every year, Mark takes the kids to the Old Settler's Day parade. I read recently that it's Kansas' biggest parade. This year at the begining of the school year, the kids at Hannah's school found out there was a reading contest that whoever read the most minutes in 10 days would get to ride on the Chick-fil-a float. They picked 2 kids, one from the younger grades and one from the older. Hannah read 1,132 minutes and was the one picked to be on the float from the upper grades. She was so excited! She really wanted to win. She got to call us the morning she found at school. It was so cute to hear her excitement after just finding out. I wanted to say also, that Hannah loves to read and it comes easy for her. She did give up doing lots of fun things to do so that she could read and try to get more minutes.
Zach and Ethan waiting to get lots of candy. Ethan loves balloons. He really wanted one on a string though and not on a stick. We had to cover Ashlyn's ears with every band that went by. It was LOUD!
The parade theme this year was holiday, which is why she is in Santa hat. She was under the tree while the "dad" was trying to get the santa cow out from the chimney. It wa pretty cute. She thought it was the coolest float in the parade. Though it was a long morning and it did rain on us. The kids all had a fun day!

So far behind...

I can't say that I even know where to begin. The last 3 months have gone by really fast for me. My baby is almost 10 months old. I know I keep saying that I want time to slow down, but I really do. Ashlyn is growing up way too fast. She is in a hurry too...she wants to walk already. You should see her run as she is cruising furniture...it's pretty funny. She also climbs up on the fireplace and on the ottoman. She still isn't sleeping all night but I am coming to terms with it. Okay, yes I am going to be tired still,but who cares when I have this cute, sweet baby to spend my day with?! I will share more cute baby facts later and try to catch up on her pictures over the last 3 months.




Hannah and Zach started school a few weeks ago. I am always sad when school starts. I am not ready for summer to be over. I also feel bad for all the fun things I wanted to do with my children, but didn't. I also love having my kids around!! They were such great helpers for me this summer. Hannah is in 5th grade this year. She is getting ready to pick out an instrument to play for band. She is trying to decide between the clarinet and the cello. She is also learning how to use Palm Pilots and has been so excited about that. Zach is in 3rd grade this year. He was less than thrilled about school starting. The first day was not all smiles for him. He walked into the school with a scowl on his face. He had the same teacher for 1st and 2nd grade so I think he was unsure about his new teacher. He has a guy teacher this year and seems to be pretty cool! I think Zach is okay with school now and has been having fun having one of his best friends there for the first time this year.

Ethan also started pre-school this year. He was so excited to go and seems to love it. He loves all the different things he gets to do. He doesn't like me to ask him very many questions though. He sounds so annoyed when I ask him what he did at school. He will usually tell me what he had for snack and if he played in the sand. The day before he started school we went and bought him a new backpack. He picked out a Speed Racer one. He loves all kinds of character type things, but especially cars. Ethan also has been going to the YMCA with me when I work out. He used to be shy and timid to go and play and now he says I am coming back too soon to pick him up. He wants to play longer. He also is going to speech class 2 times a week. I feel so lucky that he has such and awesome speech teacher. She was also Zach's speech teacher and she does such a great job with the kids.